Cyprus Avenue

"Cyprus Avenue" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1968 album Astral Weeks.

Built on a basic blues structure with an unusual arrangement, the song was recorded at the Astral Weeks sessions on 25 September 1968, at Century Sound Studio with Lewis Merenstein as producer.

[2] Calling it the central song of the album, AllMusic described it as "a chamber-music hybrid of folk-blues, jazz, and classical music, and over it Morrison sings a meditative memory lyric about his adolescence in Belfast, Northern Ireland."

"[4] As journalist Matthew Collin described the song: "Morrison reminisced about a more innocent time, recounting the sights and sounds of a bygone life while escaping into his imagination, an oasis of romantic reverie.

[2] Jon Landau wrote a Rolling Stone review in 1971 describing a performance at a concert he had attended: "For an encore Van offered 'Cyprus Avenue'.